Devon County Football Association

50°31′21″N 3°36′23″W / 50.522472°N 3.6064875°W / 50.522472; -3.6064875

Chairman

Bernard LeachWebsitehttp://www.devonfa.com/

The Devon County Football Association, also simply known as the Devon FA, is the governing body of football in the county of Devon. The Devon FA was founded in 1888 in Plymouth.^[1]

They run a number of league and cup competitions for teams of all levels across the county, and representative teams for Senior Ladies, Under 18 Men and Under 18 Ladies.^[2]

History

The Devon County Football Association was formed in 1888 at a meeting held in the pavilion of Plymouth Cricket Club, South Devon Place, which is now the Astor Playing Fields at Cattedown. The founding clubs were:

Plymouth F.C.
Plymouth United
Argyle FC
Plymouth College
Newton
Carlton Oaks
Tavistock Grammar School
Mannamead School

Initially the County FA established a set of rules for members and oversaw friendlies and inter county representative matches. The first County Representative match took place in March 1888 at Weston-super-Mare against Somerset County FA where they were defeated by two goals to nil. The return fixture in April also ended in a defeat by two goals to three. In 1889, the County Cup competition, the Challenge Cup, was inaugurated. The first winners were Tavistock Town who defeated Plymouth FC in the final.^[1]

Leagues

Devon is one of the largest County FAs by geographic area. There are five affiliated Saturday men's leagues, one Women's league, four Sunday leagues and a Wednesday league. They are:

Saturday

Plymouth and West Devon Combination Football League
South Devon League
North Devon League
Devon and Exeter League
Kingsley League (in recess)

Women's

Devon Women's League

Sunday

Exeter and District Sunday League
Torbay Sunday League
North Devon Sunday League
Plymouth and West Devon Sunday League
Devon Wednesday League

Additionally there are 8 Junior Boy's leagues and one Girl's league. Affiliated clubs also play in other Football Association and Football League competitions. These include the three senior clubs that play in Football League Two (as of 2013) of Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City and Torquay United.

County Cups

The Devon St Lukes Challenge Cup is the premier county knockout cup competition.^[3] The full list is:

St Lukes Challenge Cup
Devon Premier Cup
Devon Senior Cup
Devon Intermediate Cup
Devon Veterans Cup
Devon Midweek Cup
Devon Sunday Supplementary Cup
Devon Under 13 Boys Cup
Devon Under 14 Boys Cup
Devon Under 15 Boys Cup
Devon Under 16 Boys Cup
Devon Under 18 Youth Cup
Devon Women's Senior Cup
Devon Women's Supplementary Cup
Devon Under 13 Girls Cup
Devon Under 15 Girls Cup
Devon Under 16 Girls Cup

References

^ ^a ^b "The History of Devon County Football Association". devonfa.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
^ "Representative Sides". Devon County Football Association. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
^ "Devon FA Handbook 2021". Flipbox. Retrieved 8 May 2023.